


Vulnera Sanentur

by shipsnthenight



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-18
Updated: 2018-01-18
Packaged: 2019-03-06 10:20:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13409199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shipsnthenight/pseuds/shipsnthenight
Summary: Despite being thirteen years old and technically in her third year, this was Maggie Sawyer's first year at Hogwarts. Having transferred from Ilvermorny at the beginning of the year she was curious to explore every nook and cranny of this new environment she had found herself in.





	Vulnera Sanentur

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was originally posted on tumblr last month, I just got my AO3 invitation so I thought I'd repost it here so it doesn't get lost forever in the tumblr tags.  
> Trigger warning: there isn’t any actual self-harm, but one of the characters is hurt in a way that would look like it. Also bullying.

Maggie Sawyer was walking quietly and alone on the snowy and narrow path that ran next to the woods and connected the small village of Hogsmeade to the infamous Shrieking Shack.  _  
_

Despite being thirteen years old and technically in her third year, this was her first year at Hogwarts. Having transferred from Ilvermorny at the beginning of the year she was curious to explore every nook and cranny of this new environment she had found herself in. 

It’s just her luck, her parents’ only living relative that would take her in after they kicked her out was her aunt that lived on the other side of the world, but no matter, she was here now and there was no going back, not that she wanted to go back anyway. 

Her year at Hogwarts had started with her sorting.   
The hat, after thorough consideration, had placed her in Hufflepuff, and Maggie was pretty proud of that. She had done her research before even setting foot at Hogwarts, and Hupplepuffs had always seemed like a solid, reliable bunch of people. Plus it didn’t hurt that their Common Room was next to the kitchens, and she had made fast friends with the house elves. 

She had also made a few friends with the students in her house. Kara Danvers, a girl in her second year, had taken it upon herself to show her around and make her feel at home in her new house.   
There was also McConnell, a tall, big, friendly guy that had quickly become Maggie’s best friend and (most importantly) partner in crime when it came to little pranks, like hiding some Weasley products in the middle of the trays at breakfast, those Puking Pastilles really were something.   
_Yep_ , though Maggie while she walked with a little smirk forming on her face,  _maybe this change in my life isn’t the end of the world after all_.  

She had walked quite far from the village and had reached the fence that separated the woods from the Shrieking Shack. Kara had told her about the stories that surrounded the house for decades before Harry Potter himself had debunked them by divulging the real story of the Marauders, but the young Sawyer remained deeply fascinated by it and wanted to see the place for herself.   
She stood there for a while, for the whole time she couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching her.  
Her impression was confirmed when she turned around to go back the way she came from and came face to face with a girl, around her age by the looks of it. The girl was staring at her with the typical “deer in the headlights” look of someone who clearly wasn’t expecting to see anyone. She was sitting cross-legged on a flat rock with no snow on it right at the edge of the woods, huddled in her cape and green and silver scarf, the distinctive colors of the Slytherin house were in deep contrast with her short red hair.   
Maggie jumped back instinctively.  
“Jeez! You scared the shit out of me!” she huffed, composing herself after a moment.   
“I’m… I’m sorry…” answered the girl quietly “I… I didn’t think anyone came here anymore” she looked around as if to check that they were truly alone.   
“No, no… it’s okay, it’s just me. I was curious about this place, y’know? Ghost stories!” said Maggie, moving her arms around dramatically. She only received a quizzical look from the redhead, followed by a couple of awkward seconds of silence in which the girl tried to look everywhere but at Maggie.

Sensing the distress from the girl that clearly seemed to want to be left alone, Maggie hesitantly said, taking a couple of steps towards the path she came from: “If you want… I can, you know… g-…”  
“Okay.” the girl answered right away, her gaze now down on her joined hands in her lap. Maggie couldn’t help but notice that despite being so cold and snowy outside, she wasn’t wearing gloves. 

“Are… are you sure you’re okay?” she asked.  _Dammit Sawyer! Getting your nose in other people’s facts is going to get you in trouble one of these days._    
“Of course! Why wouldn’t I be!?” was the girl’s quick reaction.   
“Well… forgive me for minding your business, but you don’t really seem okay and, I don’t mean to brag or anything but… I’m pretty good at reading people y’know? And you kinda look like you need to talk.”  _Okay Sawyer, you really wanna do this apparently_.   
“You know, Hufflepuff, on one thing you’re right, it’s none of your damn business!”   
After an aggressive response like that, anyone with even a tiny bit of self-preservation would have walked away and left the strange Slytherin to her own devices, but this was Margaret Ellen Sawyer, soon to be auror and huntress of Dark Wizards, never be said that such a dedicated and proud Hufflepuff leaves anyone behind! So she takes a few steps towards the girl, her attention now more and more focused on her freezing, bare hands.   
“Hey! I don’t mean to hurt you or anything! I just want to make sure you’re all right… okay?” at those words, the Slytherin girl seemed to relax a little bit.  
“You… you are that new student, right?”  
“Year that’s right, I came here this summer, I used to go to Ilvermorny. Ehm… aren’t your hands freezing?”  
At that question, the girl instinctively moved her right hand to cover the left, as if to hide it.   
“N-no… it’s… it’s just that… the cold numbs it a little bit.”  
“Numbs wha-…?” the question died in Maggie’s throat as her eyes focused on the back of the girl’s left hand.   
It looked like someone had carved into it with a knife. The wound initially looked like a bunch of random cuts, but as Maggie, shocked and scared, reached for the girl’s hand and revealed it completely, she discovered that the cuts actually formed two words.  
“ _Death… eater!?_ ” she read… not quite believing her eyes “What the hell!?”   
The girl had now retreated her hand and was looking at Maggie with the most scared and insecure look the Hufflepuff had ever seen. She had even started to shake a little bit, Maggie would bet it wasn’t from the cold. 

“I assume you didn’t do that to yourself?” Maggie asked.  
The girl shook her head.   
“Then who did that to you!?” the Hufflepuff was beginning to understand the girl’s extreme diffidence towards her earlier.   
The Slytherin started to slowly massage her hand, she took a long look at Maggie, probably contemplating if she should trust her enough to tell her the whole thing. Finally deeming her trustworthy, she took a deep breath before beginning her story: 

“A bunch of fifth-year Gryffindors cornered me after class yesterday… they said my dad left my family because he’s wanted by the Ministry, and he’s trying to bring back the army of the Dark Lord, but it’s not true! My father works for the Ministry! He’s a good person and would never do anything to hurt my family! My mother spends every waking moment looking for him!” she paused, Maggie noticed there was much more anger than sadness in the eyes of the redhead as she kept telling her story.   
“Rick and Max only use my father’s disappearance to torment me over the fact that I’m the only Slytherin in my family, as if Headmaster Snape’s sacrifice hadn’t debunked all the stereotypes 20 years ago. They… they had a Black Quill, they forced it into my hand and made me write the word… so it would show up on my other hand. They said their parents still bared the marks the death eaters left on them, so it was only fair that  _my kind_  did too…” 

Maggie kept staring at the girl in shock. What the hell!? How was it even possible that 20 years from the end of the war, people could be so close-minded to still consider a person  _evil_  just because she belonged to a house instead of another. And resorting to actual torture methods to prove their point! 

Maggie saw red “If you ask me, they seem like the ones who should have that word carved into their skin. Again, and again, for what they did to you!”   
At that, the girl didn’t answer, she just offered a sad, almost imperceptible smile and kept avoiding the Hufflepuff’s gaze. 

“Listen… my aunt taught me a couple of advanced healing spells this summer… after the fourth time I showed up at home bruised from fighting with a bunch of young no-mags that were picking on little kids… maybe I could try and take a look at your hand for you?” she offered.   
“What… what’s a no-mag?” the girl asked.  
“Oh, right… my aunt told me you guys here call them… mugles, right?”  
“Muggles.” the girl corrected.  
“Right… so, want me to take a look at that wound?” The young Slytherin considered it, before hesitantly offering her hand to Maggie. 

“Okay… so don’t be alarmed or anything, this spell is kind of like a song and I might have to repeat it a couple of times… okay?” the girl nodded silently.  
Maggie held the girl’s hand in hers, she took out her wand and quietly started muttering the formula, slowly moving the wand back and forth over the wound. She hadn’t repeated it more than two times when the wound started healing quickly until the cuts disappeared completely from the pale skin. Maggie couldn’t help but notice… this girl had really beautiful skin.   
When the wound was completely gone, the Hufflepuff raised her gaze to meet the Slytherin’s eyes, and for the first time the girl genuinely smiled at her.   
“Thank you, so much” she whispered to Maggie, and the Hufflepuff’s heart swelled in her chest. 

For the first time since she met the girl, Maggie noticed how incredibly beautiful she was. Her short red hair didn’t quite reach her shoulders and framed her face perfectly. Her lineaments were fine and sharp, but what really caught Maggie’s attention were her deep brown eyes that right now were offering her the most adorable doe-eyed look of gratitude she had ever received.   
“Ah, it was nothing. I just… like helping out when I can.”  _nice, Sawyer, play it cool_ “I’m Maggie, by the way, Maggie Sawyer. Black sheep of the family and dishonorably discharged daughter, at your service.”    
“What?” asked the Slytherin confused.  
“Oh, never mind, I’ve been told I’m just awkwardly funny like that sometimes. Maggie Sawyer, nice to meet you!” she offered up her hand, and the girl took it in hers “Nice to meet you, I’m-…”   
“Danvers!!!”   
The girls were interrupted by the loud voices and steps of two Gryffindor boys walking up the path from Hogsmeade, wands out and spilling bright red and gold sparks from them, as if to alert every one of their obnoxious presence.

_Wait… Danvers!? Like Kara!?_  Thought Maggie. She quickly recalled her memories, and remembered that Kara once told her she had a big sister in Slytherin, but that after last summer she rarely spoke to her when they were at school… had she been talking to Kara Danvers’ big sister this whole time without knowing it? That was a question for another time, now there was a more pressing matter to attend to.  
“Not again…” the girl whispered, and instinctively her hand found Maggie’s and held on to it, subconsciously looking for some sort of protection.   
Maggie understood right away, those must have been Rick and Max, checking up on their handy work of the day before. And Maggie was going to have none of it.   
She gently squeezed the girl’s hand and walked to stand between her and the two boys. Her hand clutched around her wand, already out from the performing of the spell before.  
“Look at that Danvers! Did you find yourself a bodyguard!? Or is she one of your fellow death eaters!? How’s the hand by the way?” the biggest one said.   
“Fuck off, asshole! What makes you think you can just treat people like garbage!?” was Maggie’s quick and ready response.   
“See Hufflepuff, that’s the thing. Slytherins ARE garbage! It’s in their blood.” the other one said matter of factly, almost as if he was really convinced of what he was saying.   
Maggie felt the girl move to stand next to her, her wand out and ready. The Hufflepuff noticed the new and decisive look on her face, as she stood tall and ready for what would come next. Even though it was pretty obvious she was also scared to death by the two Gryffindors.  
The boys took the girls’ stance as a sign of hostility and readied their wands too.   
“You don’t want to do this Danvers. What chance could a filthy, tiny, Slytherin third year have against us?”  
“I guess I’m about to find out Max.” there was a new and aggressive tone in Maggie’s new friend. And she loved it.   
“Have it your way then.” Max said, then he quickly raised his wand straight at the girl, completely ignoring Maggie and snarled: “Everte Statum!”   
“PROTEGO!” Maggie was quicker, in the blink of an eye she put a barrier between the spell and the girl, then she quickly pointed her wand in the general direction of the two boys and shouted: “Immobulus!”   
The boys weren’t quick enough to protect themselves and were hit by the charm that froze them in place, their wands still up in the air.   
Maggie walked closer to them with a mischievous smirk on her face.   
“For what you two did to her…” she looked briefly at the Slytherin girl, still

standing there, trying to register what was happening “I should Sectumsempra the shit out of you and leave you two here to bleed out for hours.” she could see the eyes of the two boys, the only part of their body they could still move, following her as she walked around them “But I’m not like you. I don’t bully and harm people just for fun. So I’m just going to leave you with a little gift. Courtesy of Maggie Sawyer. Remember that.”   
With that, she pointed the wand at them and simply said: “Furnunculus Maxima” immediately, a nasty rash erupted on the boys’ face, it wouldn’t physically harm them, but it would make sure the everyone would know what happens when you pick on someone for no reason… plus, they would probably become the laughing stock of the whole school by the end of the day. 

Maggie lifted the Immobulus spell and watched in satisfaction as Rick and Max ran back the way they came with their tails between their legs, covering their faces and shouting empty insults at Maggie.  
The Hufflepuff allowed herself a moment to relish in a job well done, before turning back to the Slytherin girl with the most genuine and satisfied smile on her face.   
“So… I didn’t quite catch your name before.” Maggie said.  
“Oh… ehm, Alex. Alex Danvers.” the girl said “I… t-thank you for helping me out with them. I got scared and couldn’t move, Max would have had me in a second if it weren’t for you… no one ever really did anything like that for me before.”  
“Hey! No problem, Alex.” reassured Maggie “Ehm… you don’t by any chance have a sister in Hufflepuff?” she asked.   
“Yes, Kara, I assume you know her… she’s kinda hard to miss.” Alex answered with a small laugh. Maggie followed suit. “Yeah, she is… but she said you and her don’t really get along well.”  
“It’s not that. I love my sister but I don’t really do… friends, when I’m at school. I’m not… I’m not really a people person, and she is the complete opposite… I don’t know why I just told you that, I’m so sorry you probably don’t care about this stuff, I’m going to go now. Thanks again.”   
It took Maggie a couple of seconds to register the whole thing and when she realized that Alex was building up walls and running away she knew she had to act quickly. “Hey, hey! It’s okay, you don’t have to go! You didn’t do anything wrong, I promise! I like hearing things about my new friends.”  
At the word friends, Alex stopped in her tracks. “F-…friends? After what you just saw you are actually saying that you want to try and be friends with me!?” 

“Hey, listen.” Maggie got closer to Alex, her face now serious but still gentle somehow “All I saw was someone that needed help, to talk and a butterbeer. Now, I like you, Danvers, and I can provide all three of those things. So you can run away if you want, or you can walk back to the village with me and we can go get ourselves a drink and talk about random stuff until Madame Rosmerta kicks us out. The choice is yours.”  
Alex was torn, she didn’t know how to do social, she barely talked to anyone when she was at school and all she cared about was keeping her grades up until she could leave this place, but now this tiny little Hufflepuff brunette was looking at her with the most innocent of smiles, cracking jokes and spewing sarcasm with every sentence that came out of her. She was so confident, and kind, and so… so, so damn beautiful.   
She gathered all the courage she had, and quietly said: “This sounds an awful lot like a date…”  
“Would it be a problem if it was?” for the first time Alex actually heard a note of insecurity in Maggie Sawyer’s tone, still masked by that adorable dimpled smile though.   
“N-… no! Not at all!” Okay, Danvers… maybe a tiny little bit less enthusiasm next time, Alex thought.

“Okay then, lead the way, Danvers.” 


End file.
